Post-draft, pre-training camp is oftentimes the honeymoon phase for NFL teams. Everyone is tied for first place and just added a bevy of young players aimed at helping both now and in the future. But even the world’s biggest optimists sometimes get checked by the realities offered by the opposition’s viewpoint.

With a glass-half-empty approach, what the Cowboys are building is easy for some to tear down.

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Wedge Navy Pump Suede Women's Tulip CLARKS Flores Dallas is a team in flux. The lineup looks vastly different from just three seasons ago when Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray, and Jason Witten led them a 12-4 finish and divisional round appearance.

After a disappointing 2017, the Cowboys must face several questions. Even after a 2018 draft that drew favorable reviews, their new-look transformation is facing immediate scrutiny by several media outlets, including Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, who named Dallas as one of his four teams primed to disappoint fanbases next season.

“Man, they end up spending a lot of time talking about just-retired or just-kicked-out-the-door former players, don’t they? Seems to be the motif of another offseason. Tony Romo a year ago. Jason Witten and Dez Bryant now. And of course they had their share of run-ins with the law, with David Irving the latest Cowboy to be dealing with potentially seriously off-field issues (last year it was Zeke Elliott). Seems like the plan is to go Back to the Future to like 1986 and run the ball 600 times. Good luck with that. Dak Prescott, I doubt, takes a big step forward with this supporting cast, and even with adding a linebacker in the first round I have some serious concerns about the viability of the Dallas defense. The division should be better this season, but the Cowboys will not be. And if it does go as expected, will Jerry Jones cling to a coach he can micro-manage? Could more change be in the air for the Cowboys?”

Things change fast in the NFL, especially with a high-variance team like the Cowboys. Who knows how this revamped team will fare in 2018, but from the new season’s outset, it’s just as easy to squint and see a possible Super Bowl contender as it is to do the same and see an underwhelming shell of a former powerhouse.

NFL predictions are often a fool’s errand this early in the season, and the person making the prediction should be just as scrutinized as the prediction itself.

Standing five months out from NFL football, anything is possible. At least Prescott will have all summer to work with his new receivers in order to make La Canfora eat his words.